Books › An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925 › scan 121
Scan 121
An Encyclopedia of the Violin, 1925
18 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 95. See the scan on archive.org.
1It might be well to observe, before taking up the details of this fitting, that when the sound board of the violin is formed of a single piece, one should, before going any further, draw a pencil line along the sound board which, passing through the central point situated between the two F-holes, will divide the sound board in question into two equal halves.
3This line, as will be seen, serves as a guide when fitting the neck, so that it may be placed exactly straight to the axis of the instrument, and to prevent bending it either to the left or to the right.
5The neck, the foot of which is rested on the ribs at the place it is intended to occupy, should now be taken in the hand, paying attention that the central line which divides its grip into two equal parts is directly opposite the line which has just been drawn on the sound board. Take the tracing point in the right hand, and with the foot of the neck in your left, in the position already indicated, draw two lines with the tracer which, starting from the nut at the back, end at the sound board, thus marking the opening in which the foot of the neck is to be inserted. The neck is placed on the workbench, and together with it that part of the sound board comprised between them. The incision is cut to a depth of 7 millimeters (1/3"), care being taken to remove only the wood necessary to this end, so that when the foot of the neck is fitted to the incision, it cannot enter without a little forcing. Without this indispensable precaution the work will have no firmness.
7When the foot of the neck has been adjusted in the hollow which has been cut for it, and when it rises exactly 5 millimeters (1/6") above the sound board, care should be taken to incline it 1 millimeter (1/25") toward the side of the E string.
9This done, attention should be paid to giving the neck its backward slant. This slant of the neck serves to facilitate playing the instrument in passages where the violin neck enters in.
11In order to make certain that the neck has the proper slant backwards, the following procedure should be observed.
13The finger board having been prepared in the manner already indicated, and having a thickness of 5 millimeters (1/6") on each of its sides and of 7 millimeters (1/4") in the middle, it is laid on the neck, which should already have been adjusted on the workbench, as though it were to be glued.
15Holding the neck and the finger board in the left hand, one should take a true rule and place it on the center of the finger board. While continuing to hold neck and finger board in position, the rule should be taken in the right hand, and stood upright on the sound board at the exact place where the point is to be found, making sure that the rule rises somewhat over 28 millimeters (a trifle over 1") above the sound board.
17This elevation gives the exact measure of the backward slant, which cannot fail to be exact if one does not forget to give the foot of the neck the
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